No. 69, 



LIBRARY of 



Cape Cod 

HISTORY & GENEALOGY 



CAPE COD SEA 
REMINISCENCES 



G. V. C. 




YARMOUTHPORT, MASS.: 

C. W. SWIFT, PUBLISHBR AND PRINTER, 

The "Register" Press, 
1913. 



CAPE COD SEA REMINISCENCES. G. V. C. 



IQ — 

'^^v In reading the daily press and Maine furnished two-thirds of the 

noticing the comments and reports bone, muscle and brain that built, 
therein under the head of News managed and sailed those ships-, 
of the Waterfront, it is observed The cause of the decline of the 
that as the prelude to each and American merchant marine to near 
every report stands the initials extinction has been threshe<:l out 
that show the shipping to he um'cr by the press, and from the floor of 
a foreign flag. To one of many, Congress down to the corner 
who lias been a humble factor in store; but to those whom it l'.as 
the merchant marine of his conn- affected it is as vivid as was the 
try, this question will unbidden handwriting on the wall: 
arise: Lack of national pride, that once 

What has become of the Anier- was the breastwork of our coun- 
ican ship? try; the introduction of foreign 

Where are those who once pauper labor and foreign officials, 
manned them? and last but not least, railroad con- 

The latter question is compara- trol; and when railroads control 
• tively easy to answer. Many; yes, shipping, either by officials or by 
a greater number of them have capital, in the words of the late 
crossed the Great Divide, and, let Evangelist Sam Jones when calling 
us hope, are resting in the Harbor his hearers to repentance^ "Repent, 
of Heaven. Those yet remaining or with you it will be ..'Goodbye, 
are but waiting the Pilot's sura- John'." 

mons, when they too must answer The master's judgment counts for 
the eternal roll call. naught; the three sailors "L. L.L.," 

In reading some of the above namely "Lead, Log and Lookout," 
stated reports the gates of memory are a myth. The orders of rail- 
will but open to days gone by— to road management and the average 
days when our country could boast trans-Atlantic steamship company 
of a merchant marine; to days defy the omnipotent and are a 
when the United States led the direct challenge to the elements 
world by half a million tons in in which they move. The master, 
merchant marine. The New Eng- who once was king in his own 
land states were the center of right when at sea, is now but a 
shipbuilding; Massachusetts and pilot, so to speak. He leaves his 



^(^03^ d 



home office with his pockets filled last act of a British Parliament, 

with sailing orders; how to steer the seventy-second act of our 

and how fast to go and where to American Congress or the decision 

go. "iMake that time or you for- of some Western judge for "his 

feit your position;" the lives of text book," 

your passengers are naught to our When sailing ships were built, 

interests. Result: a Titanic ocean safety for life and property as 

horror. well as speed was driven into 

Many of the rising generation of them with every bolt, and seamen 

today have no correct knowledge handled them. With modern ships 

of the part Cape Cod so manluUy in ocean service, the bow and 

accepted and nobly carried to a stern may resemble a ship, but 

sucfi'ss,— the American merchant the midship secion is but a ten 

marine. story hotel, with elevators in the 

There was a well-known saying center; those in command have a 

that the average Cape Cod boy string of letters tacked onto their 

goes from the cradle to the sea, names, both as a badge of ser- 

and when the mother found her vitude and for supposed safety, 

boy big enough to haul a brick And the end of ocean horrors is 

with a half-inch rope attached not yet. 

hand over hand, sailor fashion, up R. B. Forbes, who was a big 

and into the chamber window he factor in our countrj^'s merchant 

was big enough to go to sea. And marine, was reported to have once 

to sea he went, with ambition to said, "I would not be at all sur- 

go from the hawse pipes to the prised if, when the North Pole is 

quarterdeck. discovered, a Cape Cod man will be 

In these modern days the Amer- found there fisliing." As Or Cook 

ican boy has no calling for the made no report of any find of that 

sea; he will tell you (in all truth) nature the prophecy has not boon 

that there is nothing in it. He verified. But this much we have 

therefore takes to the baseball ample proof of: there is no part 

field, because there is "more of the world that can be reached 

money in it." by water that has not been visited 

Then, again, we have no ships, by or where a sou of Cape Cod has 

Steam has driven the once lamous not placed his foot; and nobly liave 

clipper ship from the seas. "Wind the daughters of Cape Cod gone 

and canvass make the true sail- side by side with husband and 

or." Reef-hand and steer and father— the wife sharing the hus- 

obey orders was his sea Bible, and band's hardships as well as his 

the marlin-spike his text book. success — in every part of the world 

With modern steam and electric- where civilization has made it 

ity, sailors are not required. In possible for her to go. 
their place are what are known as In the year 1858, the writer, then 

"rouseabouts" or "deckswabs"— the a boy, was on a sailing ship in 



Callao, Peru. A large fleet of to place her under a foreign flag. 
American ships was laying there My route was Aia Suez canal, call- 
awaiting charters. They came ing at Singapore, Hong Kong and 
from different parts of the world, Honolulu, and as I had placed my 
"seeking." It was a year doubtless ship under the Hawaiian flag I 
remembei-ed by many to this day called at the latter port for a por- 
as one of hard times for com- manent register, 
merce. On my arrival at Hong Kong I 

The Fourth of July came, and found my agent there — a typical 
our ship was selected on which to Englishman— was connected with a 
celebrate the day. At the banquet trans-Pacific line of steamships, 
table were seated sixty-four. In My ship being under a foreign flag 
answer to the toast "Sweethearts he accepted it for a fact that I was 
and wives on Cape Cod," twenty- of his nationality, as "none but the 
eight masters of ships at that English can command ships." One 
port stood at attention. Every day I invited him to dine with me 
town on Cape Cod from Chatham on board my ship. As an induce- 
to Barnstable, both on the north ment (knowing the feelings of the 
and south sides, was represented; average Englishman when food is 
and beside eight of the above num- the subject) I informed him I had 
ber, with the beauty and dignity on board three French cooks 
of queens, as they were, stood selected in London for their skilL 
their wives. Chatham, Brewster, With all the dignity imaginable he 
North and East Dennis, Hyannis, replied, "Captain, I shall expect 
Yarmouth and Barnstable wei'e you to dine with me tomorrow, 
represented by the daughters of My wife is a New England woman, 
Cape Cod. Should they yet be sir; she can grace the kitchen as 
counted with the living and the well as the parlor. I shall ask her 
above reach their eye, possibly to prepare something I daresay 
they may remember the little boy you never enjoyed — I never until 
who was detailed by them to look Mrs H. became my wife — a *New 
after their little ones, with which England dinner." 
three of them were blessed. Silence for one moment reign(?d. 

In the year 1888 the writer was The French cooks vanished. "I ac- 
detached from his command by cept your invitation, sir," I re- 
the late GoUis P. Huntington and plied. 

ordered to London, there to take The morrow came and with it 
command of a steamship pur- one poor hungry mortal. On ar- 
chased by the company for the rival at Mr H.'s home I found 
China and trans-Pacific route. I that Mrs H. had taken charge of 
was ordered to deliver her at San her kitchen. Her Chinese servants- 
Francisco. As she was for- were bidden to obey orders, and 
eign built, yet ship and cargo Mrs H. surely had awaiting her 
owned by Americans, I was foiced guest a New England diimer suclt 



as our mothers used to gi\e us. 

During the conversation at the 
table I asked Mrs H. what part of 
New England she claimed by birth, 
and I was not surprised when she 
replied, "Massachusetts." A light 
luid slowly dawned on me, "They 
carry the marks in word and 
gesture." To the further question 
of "What part of Massachusetts?" 
With a slight toss of the head 
tlial spoke plainer than words 
the pride she held in the land of 
her birth, Mrs H. replied, "Cape 
Cod." Again the question, "What 
part of Gape Cod?" Evidently by 
her face a light was dawning on 
her, for with a half look of expec- 
tation she answered, "East J^ennis." 
Arising from my chair T made the 
best Chesterfieldian l)ow I knew 
huw to make and replied, "West 
Harwich! At your service, Mr H." 

I met Mr H. several ■ times in 
later years at the same port, and 
lie nev(3r forgot to relate how he 
Invited a Down East Yankee, as he 
termed me, to his home in order to 
sui'prise him with a New England 
dinner. It appears Mrs H. had vis- 
ited Hong Kong with her parents 
oil a sailing ship and there met her 
future husband. 

Cape Cod men can be found in 
all parts of the world. They never 
losi' their love for the place of 
their birth, and if the ocean or 
some foreign land is not their last 
re.-^ling place, as the years pass and 
agf places them on the shelf of 
usefulness, their desire to return 
to the place where they first saw 
light predominates. 

Twice during the writer's career 



has he had the conceit taken out 
of him when he was egotistic 
enough to think he was the first 
Cape Cod man to place his foot 
in certain parts of the earth. 

In 1803 I was officer on a ship 
that entered the port of Japan, 
which had then been open to com- 
merce but a few days. The ship 
,1 was attached to was under the 
British flag. But one vessel, a 
brig, was laying in the harbor, and 
she flew the American flag. "Of 
course," thought I, "there cannot 
be a Cape Cod man on her." I was 
detailed to go on shore (after per- 
mission had been given by the 
shore officials) to make some pur- 
chases for ship's use. I will not 
deny that my hat was just a trifle 
to one side as I walked up from 
my boat with native Japs staring 
in wonder at me, doubtless to see 
if I had horns or a cloven foot. 
"The first," I thought, "from my 
section of the state!" 

Looking to the right in the cen- 
ter of a group of low thatched 
huls, I saw this sign in English, 

Ship Stores. 
I entered the hut, so called, and 
found that its owner was a native 
of Hyannis, and the captain and 
first mate of the brig in the har- 
bor were natives of Chatham. My 
hat went to its proper place and I 
just "faded away." 

Again, one year later, I was chief 
officer on an Amei'ican ship in the 
port of Yiloilo, Philippine Islan*. 
We were informed but tlu-ee shils 
had touched at that port previous 
to ours, one being an English ship. 
But one white man was there, the 



U. S. commercial agent, a native words of the old sailor who 

of Boston. In due time I was in- was trying to navigate one of 

vited to visit the shore and re- ^^^^ ^^^^^^g ^^^^ ^^^ waterfront 

quested to write my name m the ^, , ^, , . . , - 

agent's book, which 1 did with ^^'^ ^ay after his arrival from sea, 

pleasure, signing name, state, town with as usual at that time of day, 

and with an extra flourisli adding a heavy cargo on board. With a 

Gape God. Laying aside the pen, lurch to the leeward he collided 

I exclaimed, "The first Gape Cod with an apple stand. An old lady, 

man in this section!" "I think the owner — an ex-stewardess — seiz- 

not," said the agent, "turn the leaf ing him by the shoulder quickly 

of that book back, please." 1 did turned him around and shouted, 

so, and there in bold and plain "Tack ship. Jack, and deepen your 

English was written, "-^ , water." Looking at her for a 

Chatham, U. S. of America, clip- moment he answered, "What do 

per ship Mountain Wave." T did you know about tacking ship?" 

not "fade away," but I just "fcshort yarns, my man," she re- 

"wilted" and then and there de- plied, "Heave ahead. Ten voyages 

termined never again to allow my across the Western ocean." And 

conceit to lead me to believe I was Jack hove ahead, with an extra 

the first son of Gape Cod to place hitch of his clothing, muttering as 

my feet on any part of our Cre- he went, "What in — is the Amer- 

ator's green earth before any other ican merchant marine coming to!" 

Cape God man. Seldom do we meet men who 

The word skipper is of English will not admit that sometime in 

coinage and was given to the mas- their early days they had a desire 

ters of fishing boats in the North to go to sea. There was some- 

of England. It found its way here thing about the bounding billow 

and was given to the masters of that was fascinating to their young 

our fishing schooners. The title of minds. 

Captain was given to those who The late Jay Gould, when a 

commanded vessels that sailed the guest on board J. P. Morgan's 

ocean. yacht Corsair, once said to the 

Modern usages assisted by our writer, "Why, Captain, in my 

sagegrass statesmen have driven young days I had a strong desire 

our ships from the sea, our ex- to go to sea, and many times since 

presidents adding the finish by then I have wished I had." Had I 

granting that title to doctors and been J. P. Morgan I could have 

machinist engineers; the former answered him, but being a servant 

known on shipboard as "Pills," the of his for the moment, I could but 

latter as "underground savages." remain silent. 

Yot they are now Captains and Ad- The average Cape Cod boy of 

mirals. ' r!ays gone by had committed to 

One is compelled to repeat the memory before he had his evening 



prayer that song so familiar to 
landsman as well as seaman: 
Life on the ocean wave, 

A home on the I'olling deep, 
Where the scattered waters rave, 

The winds their revels keep. 

If he had taken to the sea with 
the luring words of that song in 
his ears and followed that calling, 
before he had reached manhood 
he had learned by experience the 
answer to it, which says in part: 
The man that wrote that song. 

He never had been to sea; 
He never a gale had seen 

But upon his mother's knee. 

Every town on the Cape fur- 
nished its full quota of builders, 
owners and masters. On the north 
side up to Barnstable we have the 
names of Knowles, Howes, Free- 
man, Sears and Taylor, with a 
Crowell thrown in here and there 
in order to make stowage. These 
men in the fifties commanded the 
finest fleet of clipper ships the 
world ever produced. Their nanie 
was legion. 

On the south side from Ghal- 
ham to Hyannis, the former held 
the lead for many years in what 
is known as deep water captains. 
All sections but one of Har- 
wich furnished its masters; the 
west section its deep water quota. 
Many of them are in the writei's 
memory at the moment. All of 
them commanded different ships, 
but I will only name one or moi-e 
that come to memory as I wi'ite: 

Isaiah Chace, ships Starlight and 
Orpheus. His son, Edwin Chace, 
ship Black Prince. Lost at sea. 



Refused to abandon his ship. No 
further tidings. 

Thomas L. Snow, ships Camallia, 
Hercules and Ringleader, the lat- 
ter in her time a famous clipper. 

Thomas Ellis, ship MaNei'ick and 
others. 

Thomas Snow, 2d, bark J. W. 
Seaver. 

The following was endorsed on 
the J. W. Seaver register when on 
a voyage from Boston to the 
Amoor river, Siljeria, during oiu" 
Civil war: 

"The American bark J. W. 
Seaver was this day boarded by 
the Confederate steamer Georgia, 
and satisfactory evidence being 
given that most of her cargo be- 
longs to the Russian government 
she is ransomed wilh the sum of 
816,000.00 and allowed to proceed 
on her voyage." A hundred or 
more prisoners, the crews of ships 
destroyed by the Georgia, were 
placed on board the bark, to be 
disposed of as the master deemed 
besl. They were landed at Rio de 
Janeiro. 

After endorsing the register. 
Captain Snow, seeing the name of 
Lieutenant Maurey, recognized in 
him on old school fellow when at 
their home in Fredericksburg, Va., 
and asked him, "Maurey, how 
would you trade jack knives?" 
Maurey looked up and replied, 
"Tom Snow!" "Yes, Tom Snow; T 
am the fellow." With more ex- 
change of schoolday stories, they 
parted, Maurey saying, "This is^ 
tlie fortune of war." 

Lieutenant Maurey will be re- 
membered by seamen as once at 



the head of the hydrographic of- Franklin S. Doane, bark New 

fice in Washington. The delay of Light. 

going into Rio de Janeiro, and Isaac M. Bearse, ship Centennial. 

meeting a typhoon in the China j^^^^^ ^ g^j. ^j^. j^^^.j. 

sea and losing some spars and y^^orth 

sails, when Captain Snow put into „ ' ,, ^ , . ^ 

the port of Shanghai for repairs, ^ "^^^^^^^ N- B^^'^^'' ^^ip George M. 

prevented the bark from getting to ^^^'"a™- 

the Amoor river before it was David Kelley, ship Robinhood 

closed with ice. Therefore the a"d others. 

bark was detained nine months Anthony Kelley, ship Lizzie Oak- 

until the next season. The Amer- ford. 

ican consul at Shanghai copied J. G. Parks, a successful captain 

the endorsement from ships, and on many ships, now on Standard 

later on handed it to the captain's Oil company's ship Acme. 

son, Alexander F. Snow, who was Nehemiah D. Kelley, ship Osborn 

Si that port commanding bark Howes. 

Japan, then in the San Fransico James Berry, ship Hercules. 

and China trade. In the later years Henry G. Berry, ship Golden 

Captain Snow built the three State. 

masted schooner Maggie Andrews, Benjamin F. Chase, ship Ack- 

making many voyages to South bar. 

America. Gustavus Kelley. Captain Kel- 

Remark Chase, 2d, bark Garead. ley built and sailed three different 

Martin L. Chase, schooner Cen- vessels, namely, schooners Charles 

tral America and bark Garead. H. Trickey, Thomas B. Garland 

Later on Captain Chase made a and the J. Frank Seavey. The lat- 

voyage to the East Indies in ter he sailed for twenty-two years, 

schooner Henry Lippett (three from Maine to Mexico. 

masted) and as far as the writer Judah Berry, Jr., bark Gray 

can learn was one of the first to Eagle. 

make a voyage of that kind in a Horatio Kelley, ship Eagle Wing, 

vessel of that rig. At 87 years, to Osmyn Berry, schooner Jonathan 

all appearance he is able to dupli- Bourne (four masted). Now com- 

rate that voyage. manding steamer Essex. 

Benajah Crowell, Jr., ship Wild Benjamin Chace, schooner Hat- 
Rover, tie M. Crowell. 

W. B. Crowell, bark Wild Gazelle. Horatio Chapman, bark Spotless. 

Erastus Crowell, ship Golden Edwin F. Taylor, bark General 

Rule, lost at sea; later on in Fairchild. 

steamer Dianna (no tidings). Isaiah C. Kelley, bark Macon. 

Uriel Doane, ship Fleetwing. Lost at sea. No tidings. 

Lewis B, Doane, bark Ralph M. Alfred Nickerson, bark Ira Sea- 

Haywood. ver. 



A great many of the a)jo\e have distiess. This is part oi' his life 

passed on to their reward, leaving training. Broad minded from his 

behind them the record of some intercourse with the world, taught 

of Cape God's famous ship masters, by that intercourse not to inter- 

IS'ot only did they conmiand their fere with anyone's creed, lie it 

ships, but they superintended their what it may, he learns to respect 

construction and were part owners, all creeds, or in other words, 

Many of them who li\ed to see to steer his own ship and allow 

the decline of the deep water ship others to do the same, 

turned their ability to our coast- In the writer's whole career in 

wise commerce that included every every port of the world, he never 

poll from Maine to Mexico. Many met but one Atheist in the full 

went into the foreign trade, show- sense of that word. It is next to 

ing to the world the finest fleet of an impossibility for a sailor to Le 

three, four and fi\e masted ves- an Atheist, from the naturt; '-f 

sels that ever floated. the elements in which he moves. 

When they in turn noted the en- Lieutenant Maurcy once paused 

croachment of railroads and for- in pacing the deck (for he was a 

eign tramp ships, majiy gave up great seeker after light) and turn- 

the sea. Those remaining turned ing to a quartermaster nearby he 

to steam. In the words of one said, "Bob, do you believe there is 

captain, "I was tired of hearing a a God?" "Yes, sir," said Bob. 

boom tackle block jingle over niy "Why do you believe there is a 

head." God?" asked the lieutenant. Bob 

Seamen as a rule are classed by standing at attenlion, paused for a 
landsmen in street parlance as moment as if to collect himself to 
"tough characters." Granted, for answer, and said, "Because, sir, I 
there never was a class or body of see His handiwork 'in every move- 
people that all were white, yet ment of the sea; I feel His pres- 
the average landsman can give ence in every breeze that fans my 
the sailor nine points in a ten cheek." The lieutenant was an- 
point game of toughness and then swered. The sailor may not be a 
beat him. professor or a possessor, yet when 

Rough in exterior to all appear- questioned will say in all sincer- 

ance, yet under the heavy jacket ity that he hopes to meet his Pilot 

beats a heart that never will turn face to face when he must cross 

from a flag union down, showing the bar. G. V. C. 



